Landscape Of Understanding Despite Having Cerebral Palsy, Artist Reaches Out To Others With Handicaps.

October 23, 1988|By DOREEN CHRISTENSEN, Special to News/Sun-Sentinel

Helping people stricken with Alzheimer`s disease mold a lump of clay into a clown is part of Carolyn Moline`s job.

The 48-year-old artist and recreational art therapist for Praxis, an adult congregate living facility for Alzheimer`s patients in Deerfield Beach, understands people with disabilities.

And although she doesn`t consider herself handicapped, she has cerebral palsy.

``I have developed my hands so much through strength, agility and control that I do not feel that I have a handicap. Look at Renoir. He did his best work when his arthritis was so severe that the paint brushes had to be strapped to his wrists,`` Moline said.

Some of Moline`s best work is hanging in the Fort Lauderdale City Hall this month. Thirteen of her paintings are displayed on the eighth floor in the cafeteria.

One picture is of Flamingo Gardens, and will be auctioned in November to help raise money for Flamingo Gardens in Davie.

But helping others to discover the joys of art is what Moline enjoys most. Before moving to Florida two years ago, she left her mark in California, where she was trained to be a recreational art therapist through the California Education Training Act.

Although Moline works to help many handicapped and disabled people, she takes a special interest in the blind.

``I did some exciting work at the Braille Institute for the Blind in Anaheim, Calif. I developed a method of teaching blind and partially blind people to paint,`` she said.

She explained that a recreational therapist describes a scene so the person can get an idea of what they are painting.

``Although the technique is very complex, it basically involves using a non- toxic form of gel mixed in with a non-toxic paint which contained a hardening agent. The paint would harden and they could feel what they painted with their hands.``

The program got much attention from local media.

The Los Angeles Times did a story, and radio and TV interviews followed, she said.

In Orange County, Calif., a painting she did of John Wayne hangs at the Knottsberry Farm Hall of Fame. Moline now has decided to make her mark in South Florida.

Her paintings are being sold at a gallery on Las Olas Boulevard and at another in Boca Pointe.

She is active in the Gold Coast Watercolor Society and has taken part in raising money to turn the Bonnet House into a museum.

Last April, Moline helped to raise $42,000 for the Historical Society by donating some of her works.

She has a studio in her Fort Lauderdale home, where she does some sculpting along with painting and drawing.

Two artists have inspired her -- Bruno Lucacci, an internationally famous sculptor from New York, and Terry Anderson, a widely known wood carver from California. But Moline admits her family had a lot to do with developing her talent.

``I was born with a mild birth defect that made it difficult to paint and draw. It was discouraging to even write long hand as a child, but because there were so many artistic people in my family -- artists, architects and art dealers -- I was encouraged and influenced to express myself early in childhood.

``By the third grade, I had a pastel painting in the Cleveland Museum of Fine Arts. It won first prize in their spring show,`` she said.

``I think I was born holding a pencil in my hand. I`ve been drawing and painting my whole life.``